Australia fires: The huge economic cost of Australia's bushfires

Australia is facing a massive bill from unprecedented, deadly fires that have burned an area bigger than Belgium.

It's time the government started talking
about the cost of the bushfires,

Insurers have received claims worth A$240m (£126m ; $165m) since October, and they expect the number will grow significantly.

Medical bills from the fires and smoke haze could also run into the hundreds of millions.

And one analysis suggests disruptions caused by the fire and smoke haze could cost Sydney as much as A$50m a day.

The bushfires have killed eight people and destroyed 700 homes.

There appears to be no reprieve in sight, as temperatures are expected to hit 40C on the weekend, stoking fears of more fires.

The director of the Fire Centre Research Hub at the University of Tasmania, Prof David Bowman, has labelled them "absolutely transformative and unprecedented" and said they underscored a need for governments to rethink how they approach fires.

Read the BBC News story by Tim McDonald - “Australia fires: The huge economic cost of Australia's bushfires.”